‘I might have to drop out’: Worries rise for some international Ukrainian students in Canada
CTV
International students from Ukraine are facing issues with contacting their families and accessing funds from home, along with the trauma of a war in their home country. Some say that universities aren’t doing enough to support them.
“Many of us still have families that are back in Ukraine, and even if they managed to get out, like my mother and brothers who are now in Poland, they can no longer send us money for our tuition,” said Oleksandra Shelduko, a public relations undergraduate student at Humber College in Toronto.
Shelduko arrived in Canada two months ago for in-person classes, after spending a year and a half in Boryslav, western Ukraine, for online schooling. When the war started, she and many other Ukrainian students reached out to Humber College for financial support.
According to Shelduko, several of her friends who are living in Humber College’s residence have already run out of money on their meal plans.
The school, in partnership with the Ukrainian Students’ Club, has responded by giving out food vouchers and making mental health support available. Humber says on it’s website that it will accept deferred fee payments for the current and next semester.
